Ancient Greek Theatre and Culture

Greek Drama

• Emerged in 534 B.C.E. in Athens, the first recorded theatre
• Associated with the city-state, art, literature, and democracy

Peisistratus and the City Dionysia

• Peisistratus dominated Athens from 560-510 B.C.E.
• He improved social conditions, promoted art, and established/enlarged festivals
• The City Dionysia was a major festival in Athens, a celebration of Dionysus
• It was a 7-day festival in late March to early April, featuring:
  • Day 1: Procession of Dionysus' statue
  • Day 2: Dithyramb competition (10 choruses)
  • Day 3: Comic contest (introduced in 487 B.C.E.)
  • Day 4-6: Play competition (3 tragedies + 1 satyr play in the morning, 1 comedy in the late afternoon)
  • Day 7: Closing ceremony and prize-giving

The Theatre of Dionysus

• The theatre consisted of:
  • Skene (backstage)
  • Parodos (entrance)
  • Orchestra (performance area)
  • Altar
  • Thymele
  • Theatrons (seating)

Theatrical Devices

• Ekkyklema (wheeled platform): revealed a tableau of action that took place off-stage
• Deux ex Machina (floating machine): used to show characters in flight or above the earth

Playwrights

• Aeschylus (525-426 B.C.E.):
  • Wrote 70-90 plays (7 survived)
  • Won 13 times 1st place
  • Reduced the chorus from 50 to 12
  • Introduced the second actor
• Sophocles (496-406 B.C.E.):
  • Wrote 100-200 plays (7 survived)
  • Won 24 times 1st place
  • Increased the chorus size from 12 to 15
  • Introduced the third actor
• Euripides (484-c. 406 B.C.E.):
  • Wrote 90 plays (19 survived)
  • Won 4 times 1st place
  • Won again after death

Aristotle

• Wrote 2 critical plays: Rhetoric and Poetics
• The Poetics had a great influence on later school of criticism
• Divided into 2 parts: Tragedy and Comedy

Oedipus of King

• Written in 430-428 B.C.E.
• Characters:
  • Oedipus (Main character)
  • Priest
  • Creon (Oedipus's wife brother)
  • Chorus
  • Teiresias (blind)
  • Jocasta (mother and wife of Oedipus)
  • A messenger from Corinth
  • Shepherd
  • Attendant
• Background:
  • Delphic Oracle: "Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother"
  • Riddle of the Sphinx: "What walks on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?" Answer: Human
  • Plague on Thebes
  • Oedipus' prosecution of Laius' murderer
• The Fall of Oedipus:
  • Movement from "ignorance" to "knowledge"
  • When he is "blind" to the truth, he has his sight; when he achieves full understanding, he blinds himself
• Structure of tragedy:
  • Prologue: the opening scene
  • Parodos: The entrance of the chorus
  • Episode: Development of the plot through action and dialogue between actors
  • Stasimon: The choral song at the end of each episode, commenting on what happened and giving hints
  • Exodos: The final action after the last stasimon